His third question states that the issue of placing the hands together or letting them hang in prayer has caused severe disagreements among Muslims. Is placing the hands together or letting them hang among the pillars of prayer, its obligations, or the conditions of its validity?
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The questioner : His third question states that the issue of placing the hands together or letting them hang in prayer has caused severe disagreements among Muslims. Is placing the hands together or letting them hang among the pillars of prayer, its obligations, or the conditions of its validity? Please inform us. May Allah reward you with the best reward.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. This question has two aspects. One is what the brother mentioned regarding the disagreements among Muslims in such matters.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The second is the ruling on this issue, which is placing the hands together or letting them hang.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for the first, we say that it is a cause for regret that such a dispute occurs among Muslims in these matters, because these are matters that do not relate to creed. Their type existed in the time of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and they differed greatly on branch issues, yet no enmity, hatred, malice, or grudges arose among them because of this. In fact, it is obligatory for a believer, if his brother disagrees with him based on the evidence he holds, to increase his love for him, because he knows that his brother did not disagree with him based on evidence except by holding fast to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that he did not deviate from that to please anyone or to accommodate personal whims.
In truth, if your companion who disagrees with you on a matter of knowledge disagrees with you because that is what the evidence indicates to him, then it is obligatory for you to increase your love for him, not to increase your hatred or aversion toward him. Because just as he is not infallible, you are also not infallible. And for you to impose on others that they must say according to your opinion is, in fact, contrary to the truth of the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Because it is as if you have made yourself an infallible messenger whose following is obligatory, and this is a very serious matter. As we have said, and we have repeated it because it is very important, if someone disagrees with you based on the evidence he holds, one should not be angry about it or develop hatred for that man. Rather, it is obligatory to increase one's love for him. The goal is one, if the intention is good: the goal is to follow what the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) indicate, and this is the goal of everyone with good intentions.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : However, if a person wants people to follow his saying and misguides those who disagree with him, then this is not among the paths of the righteous Salaf, and it is dangerous for the Muslim community.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is not limited to the issue of placing the hands together or letting them hang in prayer, but it is general in all matters of disagreement. How many matters are there in which scholars have disagreed, both in the past and in the present? But a person must adopt what we have mentioned as a path and methodology, so that he is not affected by disagreement.
The questioner : But this one that Sa'id mentioned may appear more prominent because it is observed several times a day.
The Shaykh : Yes, now we return to this, to this issue.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for placing the hands together or letting them hang, there is no doubt that what the Sunnah indicates is placing the hands together, meaning placing the right hand over the left. This is established in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd, who said:Sahih al-Bukhari 740 This is established in other hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and no one can deny it given its establishment from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). There is no weight to the saying of any person when there is this from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Accordingly, worshipping by letting the hands hang has no basis; rather, worship is by placing the right hand over the left.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And with this, we should not hate those who let their hands hang, but we should pray for their guidance and call them to guidance as well.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : We pray to Allah for their guidance, and we also call them to the right path, and we clarify the Sunnah to them. A believer, when called to Allah and His Messenger, finds no way to escape from that.
And the disagreement regarding the ruling on the hands after rising from bowing occurred even among those who say that the prescribed practice is to place the right hand over the left while standing. They disagreed among themselves about whether one should place the hands together when rising from bowing, meaning whether one should place the right hand over the left or let it hang. Imam Ahmad explicitly stated that a person has a choice between the two: if he wishes, he lets it hang, and if he wishes, he places it together. Some people deny placing the hands together strongly and consider it an innovation. Some people consider it a recommended practice to place the hands together after rising from bowing.
The correct opinion among these views is that one places the hands together when rising from bowing, due to the generality of the hadiths indicating that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do that and that people were commanded to do it. So if we take the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd that we mentioned recently,Sahih al-Bukhari 740 the word is general.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It includes all its states, but prostration is excluded from it without doubt, and sitting is excluded from it without doubt as well, and bowing is excluded. Bowing, prostration, and sitting do not fall under this generality without doubt, because they have specific postures for the hands. So what remains for us is standing, which includes what is before bowing and what is after bowing. As for denying it and claiming that it is an innovation, this has no basis and is not correct. So the closest and stronger opinion is that one places the right hand over the left, even after rising from bowing. Yes.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. This question has two aspects. One is what the brother mentioned regarding the disagreements among Muslims in such matters.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The second is the ruling on this issue, which is placing the hands together or letting them hang.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for the first, we say that it is a cause for regret that such a dispute occurs among Muslims in these matters, because these are matters that do not relate to creed. Their type existed in the time of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and they differed greatly on branch issues, yet no enmity, hatred, malice, or grudges arose among them because of this. In fact, it is obligatory for a believer, if his brother disagrees with him based on the evidence he holds, to increase his love for him, because he knows that his brother did not disagree with him based on evidence except by holding fast to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that he did not deviate from that to please anyone or to accommodate personal whims.
In truth, if your companion who disagrees with you on a matter of knowledge disagrees with you because that is what the evidence indicates to him, then it is obligatory for you to increase your love for him, not to increase your hatred or aversion toward him. Because just as he is not infallible, you are also not infallible. And for you to impose on others that they must say according to your opinion is, in fact, contrary to the truth of the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Because it is as if you have made yourself an infallible messenger whose following is obligatory, and this is a very serious matter. As we have said, and we have repeated it because it is very important, if someone disagrees with you based on the evidence he holds, one should not be angry about it or develop hatred for that man. Rather, it is obligatory to increase one's love for him. The goal is one, if the intention is good: the goal is to follow what the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) indicate, and this is the goal of everyone with good intentions.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : However, if a person wants people to follow his saying and misguides those who disagree with him, then this is not among the paths of the righteous Salaf, and it is dangerous for the Muslim community.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : This is not limited to the issue of placing the hands together or letting them hang in prayer, but it is general in all matters of disagreement. How many matters are there in which scholars have disagreed, both in the past and in the present? But a person must adopt what we have mentioned as a path and methodology, so that he is not affected by disagreement.
The questioner : But this one that Sa'id mentioned may appear more prominent because it is observed several times a day.
The Shaykh : Yes, now we return to this, to this issue.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : As for placing the hands together or letting them hang, there is no doubt that what the Sunnah indicates is placing the hands together, meaning placing the right hand over the left. This is established in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd, who said:
The people were ordered to place the right hand on the left forearm in the prayer.
كانوا يؤمرون أن يضع الرجل يده اليمنى على ذراعه اليسرى في الصلاةThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And with this, we should not hate those who let their hands hang, but we should pray for their guidance and call them to guidance as well.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : We pray to Allah for their guidance, and we also call them to the right path, and we clarify the Sunnah to them. A believer, when called to Allah and His Messenger, finds no way to escape from that.
And the disagreement regarding the ruling on the hands after rising from bowing occurred even among those who say that the prescribed practice is to place the right hand over the left while standing. They disagreed among themselves about whether one should place the hands together when rising from bowing, meaning whether one should place the right hand over the left or let it hang. Imam Ahmad explicitly stated that a person has a choice between the two: if he wishes, he lets it hang, and if he wishes, he places it together. Some people deny placing the hands together strongly and consider it an innovation. Some people consider it a recommended practice to place the hands together after rising from bowing.
The correct opinion among these views is that one places the hands together when rising from bowing, due to the generality of the hadiths indicating that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do that and that people were commanded to do it. So if we take the hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd that we mentioned recently,
The people were ordered to place the right hand on the left forearm in the prayer.
كانوا يؤمرون أن يضع الرجل يده اليمنى على ذراعه اليسرى في الصلاةin the prayer
في الصلاةThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It includes all its states, but prostration is excluded from it without doubt, and sitting is excluded from it without doubt as well, and bowing is excluded. Bowing, prostration, and sitting do not fall under this generality without doubt, because they have specific postures for the hands. So what remains for us is standing, which includes what is before bowing and what is after bowing. As for denying it and claiming that it is an innovation, this has no basis and is not correct. So the closest and stronger opinion is that one places the right hand over the left, even after rising from bowing. Yes.
The questioner : Yes.